Shipping Day



Feeling pretty jealous of the hats I've been selling.  They get to go to some awesome new homes.  Last week I had orders ship to Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Italy, and Canada!  All from this quiet little corner of the world I call home.  Some day, though, I may insist on delivering these hats in person!

Cyber Monday Sale and Stuff


Hoping everyone had a fabulous T-day.  My little family was sick, but we enjoyed taking the day to relax, and be cozy together.  

Use code CYBER15 in my shop on Monday to get 15% and a head start on your Christmas shopping!  The shop is packed with fun new stuff for winter, and I'm adding more everyday!

In other news, I finally got a smart phone!  I feel so grown up.  My favorite part is now being able to join in on all the Instagramming fun.  If you do instagram too, please, come find me and introduce yourself! (I'm emily_bluecorduroy)  It may take me a while to get used to taking pictures of everyday things, but I'm hopeful I'll warm right up to the routine.  So far I'm totally loving seeing my friends daily photo updates.


postcards from an afternoon at sandspit


Dear Friend,  Our afternoon at Sandspit yesterday was lovely!  You can see the whole sandspit here, it's that finger of sand reaching all the way to Morro Rock and the harbor mouth.


The trail is peaceful, and not too long.  Although the trudge back up the sand dune is a doosey.


The waves were small.  Too small for surfing.  But because of the steep incline of the beach, the shore pound is always exciting.



The girls wasted no time getting their wetsuits on and fully enjoying the day.  The water temp. is still around 57, even in late July!


We hope your having a great summer, and look forward to seeing you soon!!

behind the scenes with toni weber photography


I love "behind the scenes" photos.  They are just as exciting to me as "before and after" photos.  There's so much you can learn by seeing how a shot is staged, where the light source is coming from, and the results that are achieved.

I've always, always loved Toni Weber's photography style.  She gets such a soft and warm feel with such natural poses.  Here's some fun before and after scenes of me taking a picture of her taking a picture of Ginger, and then the shot she got.  (try to refrain here from judging my shots next to hers, not fair).


{photo source Toni Weber photography}

Toni decided it would be best to go out in the early evening.  We brought a couple different outfits for Ginger to change into to get some variety.  This spot down by the bay gave us some nice scenery choices and also felt like home, which helped Ginger enjoy herself.

With both of us buzzing around with our big cameras, we actually had one guy come ask us who the celebrity (Ginger) was!  We told him he probably wouldn't have heard of her.



{photo source: Toni Weber Photography}

{photo source: Toni Weber Photography}

{photo source: Toni Weber Photography}

Toni is a good buddy of mine, who owns a photography business here on the California Central Coast.  She loves to take portraits of children, and adults, as well as lifestyle photos.  She does such a great job of helping her model find natural, flattering poses and has a way of bringing out their personality.  You can visit her on her blog, website, and facebook.

summer beach season begins


School is out.  And that means it's beach season.  Except, it's beach season all year for my family.  But, I guess to make summer beach season feel more special, I decided to make a new beach blanket and beach bag.  I figure this is my equivalent to buying new patio furniture (which we won't be doing this year).  But really, the beach is I where I do a lot of my summer time entertaining, and I can enjoy a good friend and a cool drink on my new beach blanket as easily as I could on new patio furniture.





 The bag is white and orange-y patchwork.  Extra roomy, with padded straps and lining for durability and comfort.  I also put in some large zipper pockets for the essentials: sunscreen, hair ties, surf wax.


This last year when I taught embroidery lessons to a sweet group of girls, my girls and I had some pretty little embroidery pieces that needed homes.  I decided to put them here and there on the beach bag.



Ginger mastered the chain stitch and lazy daisy stitch.  How could I not want to look at that all summer?


I made the blanket and the bag a sort of a set.  The blanket is a white, aqua, and orange patchwork, with some pieces of my old beach blanket and the awesome vintage trim from my old beach blanket.  I couldn't say good bye to that. 
 What makes summer special for you?


a new beach hoodie


Ruby has a new beach hoodie for the summer time foggy mornings at the beach.
It was a hand me down, too big, boy sweatshirt with a skull on the chest.  
But, where there is a large aqua zipper, there is potential.

We knew the sweatshirt would be usable if we could think of a creative way to cover up that skull.  
(We are not partial to skulls on our belongings in this house).
We thought of various shapes to applique on.  None of them seemed quite right.  Then I knew when our buddy Toni came over for a visit that she would have a great idea.  (You can always count on Toni for great ideas!). 
 She had an idea for us right away!  A doily!
I have a basket full of vintage thrifted doilies for such occasions as this, but they were all too large.  I knew in time I would come across just the right size, or I could even buy a new one at the craft store.  I couldn't wait.  I made one.  I found the doily pattern here.  I also put a new white string in the hood to tie it all together.  Now I want to put a doily on everything.  And you know what they say in Portlandia...


a mother's day story

I had a great mother's day last weekend!
  My family brought me home a Starbucks and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Then we decided to make our way up the coast with surfboards and hiking shoes packed.

 
The wave were too small for surfing, but I always love looking at all my favorite beaches.
We decided to keep driving a bit more, to get to the Salmon Creek Trail, on the south end of the Big Sur coastline, which is really just over an hour from our house!

The Salmon Creek Falls were just magnificent.  
Do you see my girls' little heads down there?  
After living close to 20 years either 
just north (Santa Cruz) or just south (Los Osos) of Big Sur, 
I have spent many many fun times there.  
It's so fun to start my girls' memories in this amazing place so early.
 
The hike to the falls is actually more like a rock hopping stroll.  It probably only took 15 minutes to get the waterfall.   Then we took more time walking down the stream, jumping rocks.  Daddy also gave little Ginger an impromptu boulder climbing lesson.  Lot's of big dark grey boulders, in this lush coastal forest.  My favorite part of the whole walk was listening to Ginger hum.  Her humming song would change as the hike got easier/harder.  She didn't even know she was doing it, but I was giggling the whole way!

On the way home there was only one thing left to do!  
Pull the car over for a little nap in the sun.

keeping a nature journal


 We just started today, keeping a nature journal.  I am so excited about this.  We did it for a little while when Ruby was in kindergarten, but it's time to start again, all of us.

 The idea is so simple.  To sit and observe nature, and to capture some bit of it, record a slice of time, a feeling, a new bud, a bird family...

We will grow and learn.  We will learn how to see, how to draw, how to hear, how to be quiet.  We will also learn to love nature and all the things it contains, to make life long friends with the birds, the plants, the water.

I am enjoying thumbing through Keeping a Nature Journal by Claire Walker Leslie and Charles Roth.  I am also reading Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola, to myself (and excerpts out loud to the girls).  It is a fictional account of a homeschooling mother and how they incorporate the art of nature study into their schedule.

i collect beach signs

This is a new collection of mine. Although, I guess I was subconsciously collecting them all along. I figure there are 2 basic categories to put them in to.
 1. Handy information 
and,
2. Rules to follow 

This is Handy information for sure.  I always like to know where the shells are.

Here's some rules.  No bike riding, no camping. Oh, and it looks like no dogs on trail. 
This is good to know.  Handy info or rules?  I say both.


Handy info again.  Did you know that the Cayucos pier was built in 1875? 
This sign is also clearly stating some rules.  I actually don't see it saying no jumping off with surfboard, just no diving. 

  
  

Here's a standard rules sign.  And it looks well loved.

If I need to take a bus, this is where I'll go.  Handy.

This sign might just be stating the obvious. 

a photo a day :: day 72




I'm still taking at least one picture every day.  Well, I guess I forgot a couple times last week, but I'm trying to take at least one picture every day.  Have I learned anything yet?  That's hard to say.  I think I'm becoming more familiar with all the numbers (aperture, f/stop,etc) and how they relate to each other, and ultimately how that affects the picture.  Although, I still very much operate in the trial and error mode most of the time.

I am also having to think of creative ways to shoot regular day things.  I don't often go out for an exciting picture taking journey every day.  Most days I find myself just about to cook dinner and discovering I haven't taken a picture yet, so I wander around the house, first upstairs, then downstairs, then out on the front porch, looking for something news worthy.  Something that's just screaming to have it's picture taken.  Then after coming up with nothing, I realize that I have to just find something, anything, and try get the best shot possible.  Hopefully, after a year of this, I will have some better techniques for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

weekending


We had such a nice, relaxing, rainy weekend.  Lots of inside time, with little hints of outside time.  I spent hours on the couch crocheting.  Perfecting some new crochet rosettes, and almost finishing the sweater I'm making for Ruby.  I had a great date with Ginger at the kitchen table, playing UNO while our lemon bars cooked.  We tooked a refreshing walk at the beach with some good friends, and met some new friends (missionaries from Ethiopia!).

Blue Corduroy's etsy shop is now stocked with some new girl's spring dresses.  Crochet Rosettes will be available soon.

I hope the new week goes well for you!

a south jetty story

I got to surf a couple times this weekend.  The waves were small and the sun was out.  This combination is almost irresistible to me.  Yes, I'm turning into a "fair weather" surfer.  Nothing too hard core for me these days.
One of the spots we surfed at is such a fun spot!  Yes, the waves are fun, but also the location makes it a total adventure.  South Jetty!


The adventure begins with a paddle across the Morro Bay harbor mouth.  The water is always much colder here, and the current can pull you either into the bay or towards the ocean, depending on which way the tide is going.  It also always takes longer than you think it will.


Once you get to the other side of the harbor mouth, you need to cross over the first finger jetty, and then walk down the stretch of beach that takes you to the south jetty.  If you surf the north side of this jetty you would end up surfing "corners".  Corners can be fun when the waves are huge, because they don't get quite as big inside the harbor.  Today there were no waves at Corners.  We climbed over the south jetty and surfed what we surfers call "South Jetty", i know, very creative.

These little bat rays made today extra special.  They were swimming with us the whole time!  They weren't too big, and almost looked like turtles in silhouette.  They were cute, but I wasn't very interested in getting too close to them. 

What did you do this weekend?

texture all around

I've really been enjoying my photo a day challenge. I'm pleased to find that it hasn't been a burden at all to take at least one photo every day. Megan and I did find, however, that we were challenged with "what" to take a picture of. So we gave ourselves a category of the week. We decided that we would look for "texture" as inspired by Little Brown Pen.
I was actually surprised at how much texture I could find in my little world.



This little orange frog sits on the window sill above my kitchen sink, next to his buddy the turtle.



I loved this texture in such a massive scale on Morro Rock.



The texture on textiles has always grabbed my attention, but what about the texture of a bright ruffle?

I found even more texture photos this week over here.